A device that allows a user to know information relating to one or more of his or her biological clocks.
The present invention relates to a device and a method that allows a user to know information relating to one or more of his or her biological clocks. A biological clock is a quasi-periodic cycle of variations of a value that represents the natural state of the user.
The technical problem underlying the present invention is new: for multiple reasons, every individual wants to better understand his or her own biological resources and how he or she functions. The reduction in time spent at work and the development of part time work and leisure activities incites each to manage his or her activities as a function of his or her own rhythms. The technical problem underlying the present invention includes determining the values of at least one biological clock and allowing them to be known by the user.
The invention is particularly used to help the user to:
manage one or more of his or her sleep cycles, especially by using a device designed to awaken the sleeping user (devices commonly called alarm clocks);
manage pauses between periods of intense activity;
select an appropriate time to begin an activity; and
select an appropriate time to end an activity;
evaluate his or her ability, at a given moment, to effectively perform an activity;
evaluate his or her ability to effectively perform an activity of a longer duration than a biological cycle.
The inventor has asked himself about the possibility of putting a device or method that provides information regarding a user""s biological clocks to the use of any individual from the general public.
The term xe2x80x9cgeneral publicxe2x80x9d is not to be considered herein as a simple commercial constraint without technical consequences on the problem underlying the present invention: so that the device and method envisioned by the present invention are for the xe2x80x9cgeneral public,xe2x80x9d their implementation must not require any medical protocol, nor restrictions imposed by individual insurance policies, nor cause the user to have to obtain help from another person, nor cause the user to follow more than a few minutes of instructions, nor impede the activity, concentration ability, or rest of the user, nor handicap the user in any way, and it must not give the user an abnormal facial appearance.
Therefore, the implementation of the present invention must not be more dangerous, less comfortable, or less discreet than other everyday objects that exist in the everyday routine of a member of the general public, such as a watch, jewelry, an alarm clock, a pillow, an electric blanket, a calculator, an electronic pocket organizer, a pocket television, a computer and monitor, a walkman, earphones, or glasses.
The terms xe2x80x9ccomfortablexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cdiscreetxe2x80x9d as used herein must be used technically, as they are used in ergonomics. Some objective criteria can also be associated with each of these terms; for example, ten percent of the population that are accustomed to a physical interaction between themselves and a device similar to a particular implemmentation of the device envisioned by the present invention should not have their attention monopolized by the device, aside from periods of manipulation or usage of this device, throughout a day of interaction with the device. Alternatively, the same proportion of the population should, under the same conditions, have normal activity and rest.
The present invention also envisions a user friendly (human like) device and method; that is, where the time it takes the user to learn how to use the device and become accustomed to it is of the order of only a few minutes, and, in all cases, less than one hour, after which the user can return his attention to his normal routines. It should be observed that the term xe2x80x9chuman likexe2x80x9d is a technical term in ergonomics that allows one skilled in the art to take practical measures to exclude different embodiments that are, at first glance, preferable because they are used for analyzing biological clocks, thus excluding, for example:
methods that require the placement of electrodes on the eyes, the use of rectal probes, the drawing of blood, or the analysis of excretions (see: below for the explanation of the prejudices of one skilled in the art); and
methods that impose limits on the user""s freedom of movement.
In some aspects, the present invention also envisions safeguarding against accidents caused at least in part by the sleepiness of night workers or night conductors by helping the user to be more aware of his or her biological state.
Some further technical problems that aim to resolve at least some aspects of the present invention have to do with the difficulty of obtaining and processing variations in the biological or physiological state, which are relatively common in the human being, in such a manner that the result of the processing is not made void by the environment in which the device and the method of the invention is implemented, and by the eventual voluntary activity of the user.
The variation of the obtained signal can thus, at the same time, be weak in comparison to the absolute value of the signal and in comparison to the changes due to the environment and the eventual voluntary activity of the user. This expresses a technical problem common to many aspects of the present invention.
The inventor has therefore removed himself from the medical protocols linked to the analysis of biological clocks, as they are described in the book xe2x80x9cBiological Clocks,xe2x80x9d edited in 1998 by Yvan Touitou, Excerpta media, editions Elsevier, Amsterdam, Holland. These protocols enforce the placing of electrodes, by a physician in a medical experimental laboratory, on the face or skull of the animal being examined, with limitations to its movements, its feedings, its activities, its sleeping time, and the drawing of blood or the taking of its rectal temperature. The examined animal can therefore have neither normal activity, nor normal concentration ability, nor normal rest.
The actual analysis of human biological clocks is limited to the circadian cycles or to cycles of a duration longer than a day. It is occupied mainly with ways to offset these cycles by illumination at various times and for various durations, or by injecting chemical substances in the body. The interest of many of these researches is to reduce the effects of shifted schedules for travelers suffering from jet lag.
No attempt to provide the analyzed subject with information representing an instantaneous phase (or relative position) in the cycle of variations corresponding to a biological clock has been effectuated.
On the other hand, the watches, clocks, and alarm clocks used these days provide nothing but the time and/or an alarm, and not one bit of information concerning the capacity of the user to utilize the following moments for one activity or another.
The alarm clocks used these days permit a wake up time to be chosen, but function independently of the biological functioning of the user, the time the user fell asleep, the length of the period of wakefulness preceding the time the user fell asleep, the sleep cycles that have passed, and the probable quality of the user""s following wakeful state.
To determine a sleep cycle, the one skilled in the art is inclined to use a detector of eye movements because the only sleep cycle that shows visible characteristics is paradoxical sleep, and only that sleep cycle is characterized by eye movements. Incidentally, paradoxical sleep is also known in other literature as xe2x80x9crapid eye movementxe2x80x9d sleep, or REM sleep, and in French xe2x80x9cphase de mouvements oculaires,xe2x80x9d or PMO.
For example, the documents FR 2 597 995 and FR 2 634 913 present a device designed to awaken a user, and uses electrodes implanted in the eye region to detect eye movements. This device is not applicable because there is a risk of accidents linked to the electrodes by the eyes, and the electrodes disturb the user""s sleep. Besides, the use of conductive gel, necessary for the electrodes to function properly, is at the same time disagreeable, dangerous, and bothersome. Furthermore, this document does not indicate any implementation of the electrode device to intake the electrical signals of the eye muscles, nor to process these signals or any necessary information regarding the sleep of the user that would allow for the detection of the onset of paradoxical sleep, nor to select a time to awaken corresponding to the beginning of a sleep cycle. Finally, the device described in this document cannot resolve the problem that it claims to solve, because the duration of paradoxical sleep, during which eye movements are apparent, are neither equal nor regular through the course of different sleep cycles. The duration of paradoxical sleep varies from one tenth to one third the length of the duration of the complete sleep cycle. The assumption that paradoxical sleep begins after a delay of one fourth to one fifth of the complete sleep cycle and that is has a predetermined duration does not therefore allow the beginning of the steep cycle to be accurately determined.
More generally, all information intake systems that obtain information about sensory activity, particularly those placed on the user""s eyes, impose an annoyance that hinders activity and rest. In effect, the user""s senses serve to awaken the user""s attention and to give the central nervous system information to be processed. Furthermore, with the exception of the sense of touch, the sensory zones are concentrated on the face and are supported by a large density of tactile nerve endings and particularly sensitive protective reflexes. Any attempt to obtain information regarding sensory activity, such as eye muscle activity, causes a reduction in the user""s concentration and/or the user""s ability to rest.
The present invention intends to resolve these inconveniences.
According to a primary aspect, the present invention envisions a device that allows a user to know certain information, characterized in that it includes:
an information intake system that obtains a value that represents non-sensory biological activity of the user""s body;
a means of filtration for the value obtained by the said information intake system, designed to provide a relative position of the said value within the cycle representing a temporal variation of the non-sensory biological activity, the said cycle being of a duration longer than one minute, and
a means for the user to know the information representing the said relative position.
It should be observed that the.information intake system can possess a great number of different structures, all with the goal of obtaining information from, for example, sounds (blood flow, breathing, rubbing of the fabric of a sheet or clothing), thermal data (body temperature, expelled air), electrical data (conductivity at the skin surface, brain activity, nerve or muscle activity), pressure data (blood pressure, speed of expelled air, pressure of the body onto a pillow or a bed), movements, rubbings, electromagnetic waves, gaseous compositions, electrical conductivity, or respiratory or cardiac rhythms.
It should also be observed that the means of filtration can possess a number of structures, for example:
mechanical, for example similar to systems that incorporate tension by a spring in an xe2x80x9cautomaticxe2x80x9d watch, but equipped with an absorber to reduce this tension with an absorber time constant less than the duration of the cycle, or
electronic, for example by frequency filtration, by auto correlation, by correlation with a predetermined function, for example a sine function, or by Fourier transforms.
Finally, the implementation itself can also take on numerous structures; for example, a display on a watch that would permanently display the relative position in the cycle, and or the time of the beginning of the cycle, and/or the time of the end of the cycle; an auditory, visual, or vibratory alarm that would set off when a predetermined relative position in a predetermined cycle was reached; or by the turning on of a source of light.
According to these particular characteristics, the means of filtration is designed to integrate a difference between an obtained value and a predetermined value, (for example, the average of the obtained value during at least one cycle) and to provide the relative position of the said integral in the form of the relative position of the said integral within a range of values.
Because of these features, the user can determine if a biological resource is still available, or if his potential to perform is at its greatest, or if it will be at its greatest at a future point in a cycle.
According to other particular characteristics, the means of filtration is designed to integrate the said difference by applying a weighting function representing an elapsed duration.
Because of these features, the value of the integral principally represents the last obtained values.
According to other particular characteristics, the information intake system is designed to obtain a value representing a user""s nonsensory biological activity, without bilateral contact with the human body.
Because of these features, the user""s body is free to move with at least one degree of freedom. For example, the information intake system can obtain information from a distance, and can obtain values without contact with the human body (for example a motion detector or surveillance equipment) or can obtain information by having pressure applied to it by at least one part of the user""s body (for example a pillow, a sheet, a chair, or a keyboard).
According to other particular characteristics, the information intake system is designed to obtain values representing the cardiovascular activity of the user.
Because of these features, the information intake device is easy to produce and of little cost, since it""s conception and production can benefit from current knowledge in the field of tensiometers and/or pulse takers.
According to other particular characteristics, the said information intake system is designed to be used in a permanent relationship with the user""s body.
Because of these features, the implementation of the present invention is discreet, non handicapping, and allows the user to have the freedom of movement to which he is accustomed and does not alter his capacity to concentrate, rest, or perform.
According to other particular characteristics:
the information intake system is designed to obtain a value once it is in its predetermined relationship with the user""s body,
the means of filtration includes:
a memory for values obtained by the said information intake system,
a means to estimate the said values when the information intake system is not in the predetermined relationship with the user""s body,
a means of implementation designed to put the said estimation to the user""s use.
Because of these features, the information to be put to use is representative of either a relative position determined as a function of the obtained values, or as a function of an estimation, that can, advantageously, be based on the preceding obtained value obtained when the information intake system was in the predetermined relationship with the user""s body.
Thus, for example, if the information intake system is worn on the wrist, it has a relative position to be used during a cycle, for example a sleep cycle, when the user is not actually wearing the said information intake system on the wrist.
According to other particular characteristics, the device as it is succinctly described herein includes a memory of a predetermined position in the said cycle and the implementation of the said information concerning the relative position is designed to produce a signal when the said relative position is equal to the said predetermined position.
Because of these features, when the user wishes to begin an activity at a predetermined position in a cycle, for example to awaken at the end of a paradoxical sleep cycle, he is made aware by the implementation of the impending arrival of this predetermined position.
According to other particular characteristics, the means of implementation of the said information concerning the relative position is designed to permanently have the said relative position available to the user.
Because of these features, the user can always consult the implementation to inform himself of his instantaneous relative position.
According to other particular characteristics, the means of filtration is furthermore designed to determine the duration of the cycle. Because of these features, the duration of the user""s cycle is taken into account in determining the position in the cycle, rather than a predetermined duration. Therefore, if the user disturbs his cycle, for example at the end of an airplane trip or a surgical operation, the duration of the cycle is adjusted by the means of filtration to take into account this disturbance.
According to particular characteristics, the means of filtration includes a means of processing designed to effectuate a frequency analysis of the obtained value.
Because of these features, the noise that affects the value obtained by the information intake system is eliminated since its frequency is sufficiently different from the frequency of the cycle. The reader will advantageously refer to the general knowledge of a person skilled in the art of processing signals to determine the meaning of the word xe2x80x9csufficientlyxe2x80x9d in the preceding phrase.
According to particular characteristics, the information intake system that obtains a value representing a non-sensory biological activity of the user""s body is designed to obtain a value from a number of biological events, and the means of filtration is designed to determine a duration of a cycle at least ten times greater than the average duration between two events obtained by the information intake system.
Because of these features, repetitive events, such as the heart beating, the lungs breathing, the limbs or head moving, advocate the use of relative positions in cycles of a duration greater than a few tens of seconds.
According to other particular characteristics, the means of filtration is designed to cause a recurrent processing over several periods to measure the variation of the duration of the said cycle.
Because of these features, the present invention can be easily put to use for biological cycles of which the duration is not constant but progressively evolves.
According to other particular characteristics, the information intake system is designed to provide a value that represents the muscular activity from at least one of the user""s limbs.
Because of these features, the information intake device is easy to produce and of little cost, since it""s conception and production can benefit from current knowledge in the field of pedometers, actimeters, actigraphs, and accelerometers.
According to other particular characteristics, the information intake system is designed to provide a value that represents the electrical activity in the user""s body without bilateral contact with the user""s head.
Because of these features, the electrical brain, nerve, or muscle waves, which represent internal activity of the human body, can be taken into account by the means of filtration.
According to other particular characteristics, the information intake system is designed to provide a duration separating two keystrokes on a computer keyboard.
Because of these features, the rapidity of the keystrokes can be taken into account by the means of filtration and the implementation of the present invention can be activated by the execution of a program by a microprocessor or a computer.
According to other particular characteristics, the information intake system is designed to be positioned at a distance from the user""s body and to provide representative information regarding the movements of the said body.
Because of these features, the freedom of movement of the body is not at all reduced and none of the senses detects the presence of the information intake system, not even the sense of touch.
According to other particular characteristics, the means of filtration is designed to implement a detection of the difference between the obtained value and an average of obtained values corresponding to the same relative position in the cycle.
Because of these features, the user has, for his use, information about a biological activity. The user can benefit from this information, for example, during training, for example in typing, in physical exercise, in cardiac activity, or in the field of electrical cerebral wave emission.
According to other particular characteristics, the means of filtration is designed to effectuate an integration of the said difference and a means of using a value that represents the result of the said integration.
Because of these features, the user can, for example, use the integration of the value over an entire cycle, to eliminate the cyclical fluctuations in the considered value.
According to other particular characteristics, the means of implementation includes a memory of values, each corresponding to a relative position, and is designed to display, for each relative position, the corresponding value of the relative position provided by the means of filtration.
Because of these features, whenever a relative position in the memory corresponds to:
a prompting, for example to relax, or, to the contrary, to make intense effort,
a feeling, for example of well being, or of agility,
a high or low ability to perform, for example intellectually, emotionally, or physically,
this prompting, feeling, and/or ability to perform is or are to be made known to the user.
According to other particular characteristics, the device described by the present invention includes a memory of a duration of a cycle, and the means of filtration is designed to determine a duration of a cycle and to compare the determined duration of the cycle to the duration stored in the memory, and when the duration is greater than the duration stored in the memory, to determine the relative position in comparison to the duration stored in memory or to the previous duration of the cycle determined by the means of filtration.
Because of these features, when the obtained value is disturbed, to the point where the means of filtration produces an evaluation of the duration of the cycle that is very different from the predetermined value for that particular situation, it is the estimated duration of the cycle that is used as the standard for the relative positions.
According to other particular characteristics, the means of implementation includes:
a memory designed to store, on one hand, a number of sleep cycles, and, on the other hand, a relative position in a cycle, and
a means to cause the emission of light rays towards the user""s eyes, and
is designed to begin the emission of light rays when, on one hand, the number of sleep cycles stored in the memory have been attained, and, on the other hand, when the relative position provided by the means of filtration is equal to the relative position stored in the memory.
Because of these features, the present invention can be applied to an alarm clock which would allow a user to be awakened at a favorable moment in his or her sleep cycle, without having to wear an information intake system that would disturb his or her sleep.
According to other particular characteristics, the means of implementation includes a memory designed to store a predetermined relative position and is designed to display the time at which the said relative position stored in memory will occur.
According to other particular characteristics, the means of filtration is designed to detect the impending arrival of the xe2x80x9creferencexe2x80x9d relative position in the cycle, and to locate the other relative positions in relation to the previous arrival of the reference relative position.
Because of these features, whenever a relative position is easy to determine, for example like an awakening at the end of a circadian cycle, the other positions are located in relation to this relative position.
According to other particular characteristics, the means of filtration is designed to determine the end of a phase of paradoxical sleep in the sleep cycle.
Because of these features, the best moment to awaken the user is determined to be following the end of a phase of paradoxical sleep.
According to other particular characteristics, the means of filtration is designed to:
test a first value of the duration of the cycle, or period, by detecting cycles of variations of the said value, for example by autocorrelation or by correlation with a sinusoidal function over one sinusoid, and
if the number of detected cycles, during a reference duration given by taking into account the said period, is greater than the ratio of the reference duration over the said period, test a new duration of a shorter cycle,
if the number of detected cycles, during a reference duration given by taking into account the said period, is less than the ratio of the reference duration over the said period, test a new duration of a longer cycle,
and so forth until the number of detected cycles is equal to the said ratio.
Because of these features, a recurrence allows the average duration of the cycle in the given reference duration (for example, a duration of wakefulness) to be determined.
According to other particular characteristics, the information intake system is incorporated in an object that has a permanent function other than that of obtaining the said values representing a non-sensory biological activity of a user""s body, such as jewelry, a watch, a pillow, a bed, a presence detector, a motion detector, an article of clothing, glasses, or headphones.
Because of these features, the user is not bothered by the interaction that his body has with the device described by the present invention.
According to a second aspect, the present invention envisions a method to allow the user to know information, including:
a step of obtaining a value representing a non-sensory biological activity of the user""s body,
a step of filtering the obtained value along with the step of obtaining the value to provide a relative position of the said value in a cycle representing a temporal variation of the said non-sensory biological activity, the said cycle being of duration greater than one minute, and
a step of allowing the user to know the information representing the said relative position.
Because of certain features of the present invention, the user is informed of the preferred time to begin or interrupt a period of sleep. He can also, according to particular embodiments of the present invention, choose the best time to go to sleep or be awakened.
According to particular characteristics, at least one physiological information intake system is designed to detect a parameter of the functioning of the cardiovascular system.
Thus, the variations of cardiac rhythm or arterial pressure, or any arrhythmias can be used to detect a period of extreme activity.
According to particular characteristics, at least one physiological information intake system is designed to detect a parameter of the functioning of the respiratory system.
Thus, the variations of respiratory rhythm, respiratory flux, the chemical composition of the expelled gases, and the regularity of the respiration can be used to detect a period of extreme activity.
According to particular characteristics, at least one physiological information intake system is designed to detect a parameter of the functioning of electrical cerebral waves.
Thus, the electrical cerebral waves can be used to detect a period of extreme activity, particularly during a period of sleep.
According to particular characteristics, at least one physiological information intake system is designed to detect a parameter of the functioning of the muscular system.
Thus, the electrical muscular activity and the movements of the body can be used to detect a period of extreme activity, particularly during a period of sleep.
According to preferred characteristics, all information intake systems in contact with the user""s body are in dry contact with the user""s body. Thus, the user is not bothered by any liquid or any gel.
According to another aspect, the invention envisions a time-keeping article, such as a watch or an alarm clock, that would incorporate at least one part of a device as it is succinctly described herein.
According to another aspect, the present invention envisions a pillow that would incorporate at least one part of a device as it is succinctly described herein.
According to another aspect, the present invention envisions a memory, removable or not, capable of being read by an information system or by a microprocessor, and of storing information containing instructions for a program for processing information, to implement the device or the method described herein.
The inventor has also discovered that the users of watches and clocks, including clocks that are part of a computer, would be interested in knowing the instantaneous values of their different physical or psychological capacities (their speed of inquiry, their speed of reasoning, their alertness, their dexterity, their overall vigor, their overall feeling (of well being), their concentration of melatonin (the feeling that they need to sleep)) that correspond to a particular moment in the day or in a biological cycle.
To this effect, the present invention envisions, according to another aspect, a device that displays variable parameters of a regular cycle, including a memory that stores the values of each of these parameters, a clock that provides the time, a means to correlate the time provided by the clock with at least one value of these parameters, and a means to display at least one value that has been correlated with the time provided by the clock.
The present invention also envisions a combination of this last aspect with each of the other aspects of the invention, as have been described herein, a combination in which the clock is replaced by the relative position in a cycle, this relative position being correlated with at least one value of a parameter displayed by the means of display.